Cartridge feed device for automatic firearms



Oct. 11, 1949.

H. LIPPERT CARTRIDGE FEED DEVICE FOR AUTDMATIC FIREARMS Filed Dec. 16, 1947 ATTG'LNESS Patented Oct. 11, 1949 GARTRIDGE FEED DEVICE F03, AUTOMATIC FIREARMS Hanns liippert, Zurich, Switzerland, assig-no'r to Machine 'Tool "Works Oeiitikon, Administration Gamma/n52, Swiss company .Zur'ich- Oerlikon,

Switzerland, :-a

Application December 16, 194?,Sefial N0.7'91;958

In Switzerland December 17,

2 Claims. :1

@onsiderable :di'fiiculty is met in the feeding nfic'artridges to automatic fire-arms having calilbres of.20 mmand over owing to the fact that the mate-10f firing with these weapons has today .inmease'd .toapproximately 4-1000 rounds per .minute. In the first place, .it is no longer possible to employ the hitherto usual supply from magazines in which the cartfi'dges are under the action of a feed spring, firstly because only a limited number of cartridgescanbe arranged in such magazines and, secondly, because the power of the spring is insufficient for the feed in the short spaces of time that are available.

Devices are also known in which the cartridge supply is carried out in belts. These constructions, in which the belt must itself be led through the gun and the cartridges are knocked out of the belt by the forwardly moving breech, could also not be installed, because the knocking of the cartridges out of the belt deprives the forward moving breech of too much energy, which has a detrimental effect on the rate of firing. Quite apart from these disadvantages, others of a constructive nature also became apparent in feeding the belt through the gun.

Now the object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge feed device which obviates the aforementioned disadvantages, in that firstly the feed of the cartridges is assured, even in the short spaces of time that are available, without showing the constructional disadvantages of the belt feed, and secondly, any number of cartridges can be prepared for the feed. The cartridge feed device according to the present invention is characterised by the fact that two linked chains, which are not connected to one another and of which ones serves to support the noses of the projectiles, whereas the other serves to support the bases of the cartridges, are wound up, together with the cartridges held between said chains, on a shaft in a container which has a lateral guide for the linked chains, that furthermore a forwarding device, :and guiding means that guide the linked chains outwardly out of engagement with the noses of the projectiles and the bases of the cartridges, respectively, are provided at the exit of the container, and a feed channel arranged on the weapon and including a further feed device is led up to the exit of the container in such manner that the cartridges, no longer guided by the linked chains, pass directly into the feed channel of the weapon. In addition, the individual links of the linked chains may conveniently be so constructed that the chains, after they come out of engagement with the projectile noses or .2 acartriclge fbases, respectively, break up :into their separate links.

@ne constructional formof the subject-of the invention is shown, by way of example, in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

ii 518 -a diagrammatic view of 2a weapon,

:Fzig. .2 :is .a cross-section, zinthefiring direction, through the cantric lge rfeed device and through the feed channel on the weapon,

:Fig. :3 is ca plan view of the arrangement Laccording to Fig. 2, without the casing.

Provided on the weapon I of suitable construction is a feed channel which includes a forwarding device, for example, two star wheels 3, which are driven by a motor 4. The feed channel 2 secured to the weapon opens into the exit or outlet of the container 5. Provided at the exit of the container 5 are two further star wheels 6 for feeding purposes, said wheels likewise being driven by a motor I. Positioned below the exit of the container 5 is a container 8 for receiving the individual links of the linked chains. Within the container 5, there are secured the last links of the linked or sectional chains II and I2, by means of chains Ill wound on to the shaft 9. With this arrangement, the winding up is carried out without inserting guide channels or guide plates. The linked or sectional chains II and I2 bear on the walls of the container 5 and thereby the distance apart thereof is fixed. There does not exist any other connection of the linked chains II and I2 to one another. Consequently, the shaft 9 in the container 5 constitutes a kind of reel.

The links of the linked chain II are so constructed that they accommodate the noses of the projectiles, whereas the linked chain I2 serves to support the cartridge bases. Since the distance apart of the linked chains I I and I2 cannot vary, owing to their being guided on the side walls of the container 5, the individual cartridges are firmly held as if in a belt. The star wheels 6, which act on the cartridges, now lead the cartridges held by the linked chains II, I2 to the exit of the container 5, on which are arranged an oscillatable guide plate I3 and guide plates I4. The guide plates I4 include channels I5 which are bent outwardly and lead the linked chains or their individual links outwardly and thus out of engagement both with the noses and with the bases of the cartridges. At this point, however, the feed channel 2 has already taken over the guiding of the individual cartridges. which, advanced by the star wheels 3, are fed to the weapon. Two levers I6 may be provided in known manner before the cartridge chamber for the temporary support of the cartridges located one above the other in the feed channel.

The individual links of the linked chains II and I2 are so constructed that they fall away from one another and pass separately into the container 8.

The filling of the container 5 is effected in a simple manner by a link being first attached to each of the chains III which, with the container empty, reach up to the exit and a cartridge is positioned therebetween. The belt, continuously formed by attaching chain links and positioning cartridges therebetween, is wound up by rotation at the shaft 9.

The constructional example illustrated is obviously capable of easily being completed in other ways without departing from the fundamental idea of the invention. Thus it would, for example, be readily conceivable that the feed channel 2 could also be arranged on the container 5 and the whole fixed to the weapon. The subjectmatter of the invention achieves in a simple manner the satisfactory and rapid feeding of the cartridges to the Weapon, and on the other hand the preparation can be carried out in containers which may be made of any desired size, according to the space that is available.

I claim:

1. Cartridge feed device for automatic firearms, comprising two linked chains, which are not connected to one another and of which one serves to support the noses of the cartridges, Whereas the other serves to support the bases of the cartridges, a shaft, said chains being wound together with the cartridges held between said chains, on said shaft, a container carrying said shaft and comprising a lateral guide for the linked chains, said container having an exit formed therein, a forwarding device for the cartridges, and guiding means that guide the linked chains outwardly out of engagement with the noses of the projectiles and the bases of the cartridges, respectively, said forwarding device and said guiding means being located at said exit of the container, and means forming a feed channel arranged on the weapon and including :a further cartridge feed device located beyond said exit of the container in such a manner that the cartridges, no longer guided by the linked chains, pass directly into the feed channel of the weapon.

2. Cartridge feed device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the individual links of the linked chains interengage by necks formed therein so that the chains, after they come out of engagement with the projectile noses and cartridge bases, respectively, break up into their separate links.

HANNS LIPPERT.

No references cited. 

